Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast

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Haven't I been down this road before?

By Jeff Haynes

Twenty years ago, Yu Suzuki launched OutRun, a high speed road race across the country. With your Ferrari and your girlfriend by your side, you set out to scorch the asphalt, choosing your path and passing checkpoints to keep the ride going. Now, two decades later, SEGA's popular racing game returns in OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast with new modes, redesigned levels and additional cars. However, take that with a grain of salt; if you've played (or own) 2004's OutRun 2, you're basically getting a rehash of that title with a couple of extra features added on.

How much of a rehash? Well, instead of there being new stages or goals that you can drive through, the game pulls its stages from OutRun 2 or the expanded arcade game of OutRun 2SP, which is essentially included as an additional map pack. While that allows for thirty total racing levels (sixty if you play each level in reverse), you're still racing through the Alpine, Industrial Complex and Cape Way, among other maps that you played two years ago. There aren't really any improvements visually or trackwise, so if you've got these levels memorized, it makes it much easier to finish your stages. Simply put, if you're a veteran of the OutRun games, particularly the previous title, you're not experiencing anything different. This brings up another issue from the previous OutRun 2 review, which is that the gameplay is incredibly shallow. I'm not expecting Gran Turismo here -- in fact, I know that the arcade nature of the game is relatively brief and satisfying, and the game maps do a fairly adequate job of that by providing old stages. But you could conceivably rent the game, unlock everything there is to do in the game in a weekend and never play it again.

While these are some of the largest strikes against the game, it isn't completely bad, since just about every single feature from OutRun 2 has been included in the game. While you'll be able to take on up to five additional players in multiplayer matches, these matches are pretty straightforward and not too exciting. What is particularly interesting is that the PSP version supports both Ad Hoc and Infrastructure play. However, multiplayer games do use the same maps as the single player mode, which is the primary thrust of OutRun 2006. Players have the option to select between OutRun mode, crossing through multiple goals to reach the finish line, or Time Attack mode where you race against ghost cars to set time records. Heart Attack mode returns as well, tasking you with keeping your girlfriend happy by fulfilling her requests. Some of these include drifting around corners or passing other cars on the road. In fact, you can drift on roads a touch easier in OutRun 2006 and seemingly for much longer, even passing cars while almost fully horizontal. And yes, before you ask, slipstreaming is still included as the only means to receive a speed boost in the game.

Building upon these features, OutRun 2006 includes Coast 2 Coast mode, a feature that gives you a new set of challenges and tasks. The first one is set out by the Flagman, the game character that waves you across the starting line. His challenges essentially test your driving skills, ranging from how well you can drift around a track to keeping a lead from a rival (and thereby, keeping your girlfriend in your car). You can decide which way you want to advance in these "missions," and as long as you achieve an average rank of an A, you can move on to the next stage.

The other challenges are set up by three different "girlfriends" that have you performing different objectives on the various stages of the Outrun race levels. Akin to the Heart Attack mode, these tests (particularly the special requests that are given based on your driving performance) are usually a bit more extreme than the previous game. For instance, you'll be tasked with avoiding alien abductions, dribbling a beach ball or hitting ghosts in the road. You'll have the option to drive from start to finish or replay a specific level over and over, completing all of the objectives on that stage.